"傲慢、冒犯、辱罵的言辭"，14世紀晚期，源自古法語 contumelie，來自拉丁語 contumelia "譴責，侮辱"，可能源自 contumax "傲慢、頑固、傲慢、不屈服"，特別是指那些拒絕出庭應訴的人，來自 com- 的同化形式，這裏可能是一個強調前綴（見 com-），加上 tumere "膨脹"（來自 PIE 詞根 *teue- "膨脹"）。
The unhappy man left his country forever. The howl of contumely followed him across the sea, up the Rhine, over the Alps; it gradually waxed fainter; it died away; those who had raised it began to ask each other, what, after all, was the matter about which they had been so clamorous, and wished to invite back the criminal whom they had just chased from them. [Thomas Babington Macaulay, "Lord Byron," 1877]
這個不幸的人永遠離開了他的國家。侮辱的嚎叫聲在他身後穿過海洋，穿過萊茵河，穿過阿爾卑斯山； 它逐漸變得微弱； 它消失了； 那些發出它的人開始互相詢問，到底是什麼事情讓他們如此喧囂，希望邀請剛剛被他們追逐出境的罪犯回來。[托馬斯·巴賓頓·麥考萊，《拜倫勳爵》，1877年]
